Summer Events
Assiniboia Downs Get caught up in the rush
By Ivan Bigg
More exciting things have happened at The Downs than you think. N
othing big or important could possibly happen at a horse racing track in the middle of the Canadian
prairies — Assiniboia Downs, right? Well, how about this? Back in 1982, a horse named Northern Spike, a hand- some chestnut gelding that raced at As- siniboia Downs after being bred in our home province of Manitoba, made it into the Guinness Book of Records for setting the world record for a half-mile (four furlongs) — 44 2/5 seconds. Or what about this? No other place
in North America serves more certi- fied Angus prime rib, the best prime rib money can buy, during the course of a
24 • Summer 2016
year than this seemingly out-of-the-way place. And this: Goldencents, the foal of a
mare who was bred in Manitoba and raced at Assiniboia Downs, won the Santa Anita Derby in 2013 and the dirt mile Breeders’ Cup World Champion- ship in 2013 and 2014.
Did someone say “nothing important happens?”
Put simply, when you’re small and isolated, you think big and try harder. Which is what Assiniboia Downs has done since it first opened in June, 1958. Now in its 59th season of live racing, it recently partnered with the affluent Pe- guis First Nation to begin building ho-
tels, stores and convention space, taking the required steps to become an urban reserve. Can a casino addition be far off? If you’ve been to other tracks, you’ve
probably enjoyed the races more be- cause of an innovation that began at Assiniboia Downs. What? Back in the 1980s, the former owner of Te Downs, Jim Wright, came up with the idea of assigning a saddle cloth colour to each horse number. For example, the horse with the red saddle cloth is #1, white is #2, blue is #3, etc. Imagine the difficulty trying to fol-
low your horse without a designated co- lour. Tat idea caught on and all North America tracks now use those colours.
The Hub
All photos courtesy of the Assiniboine Downs.
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